Best concert I’ve ever been to was one of the four of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s I’ve been to.
You read that right. Four times.
The Alpocalypse tour, the Mandatory Tour, the Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour, and the Strings Attached tour. That third one is probably the best overall experience, as I picked up a VIP ticket for just myself and got into it with other super fans of the man, the myth, the legend. It was a tour for his most dedicated fans, with no costumes, almost no direct parodies, and a different cover song at each stop. (My concert was one of the best, as it was better than the original song.) Alfred Yankovic is a true gift to humanity in a way I can’t understate. I got to meet him, got his autograph on one of his coffee table books, mentioned Ninja Sex Party (he has since met Dan Avidan on Guest Grumps,) and snapped a couple photos. I look a bit haggard because it was like half past midnight and I had a good three-hour drive ahead of me. I had been up since like 8 or 10 that morning. If I didn’t consciously notice it, I almost surely would have fallen asleep on the drive home. But it was worth it.
I am a dedicated “Weird Al” Yankovic super fan. Every song he’s ever released on an album, even the special Medium Rarities album I had to buy a massive collection in order to get. I just had to have the theme from Spy Hard. I even have a few unreleased songs, usually his early stuff that got released as vinyl singles (so glad I missed that era) prior to his full self-titled debut album. I am a buyer of music. I like to support the artists directly. Buying their MP3s or full albums is the easiest way to do that. As of late, probably more than I should. That shuffle playlist of mine? 4,185 songs now. That’s 221 hours and 6 minutes of music. Constant improvement.
What makes the man so amazing is that he largely avoids politics, is genuinely charming in interviews, and treats his fans well. Those meet and greets in the middle of the night, sometimes hundreds of fans, have to be exhausting, but he clearly loves it. My people. He also was so socially awkward and largely straight edge (Adam Ant had a song about this) that he never went through a crisis of drugs or sex, although that Funny or Die fake biopic trailer with Aaron Paul was dope. He didn’t meet his wife until much later in his career and has one daughter. He seems far more grounded than most musicians, much like Dan Avidan (although that controversy did hit him a few months ago…) It helps that he has such a massive back catalog that every super fan has a different favorite song. Hundreds to pick from, mostly all good. Although I never liked “Ricky” because a massive chunk of the song is not his vocals, and the woman singing does that annoying Lucy impersonation that just doesn’t sound good. At all. Grates on the eardrums.
I advise any casual “Weird Al” Yankovic fan, I won’t judge, who wants to listen to his more obscure stuff to pick a random album (he has more than fifteen if you count compilations) and look over the track listing on its Wikipedia page. He has some dark songs, too. Pick a song and YouTube it. His YouTube page has every song “Weird Al” Yankovic has ever released on an album outside of Medium Rarities. And enjoy yourself as you fall down a YouTube song hole. I know I have. As does my wallet.
He always seems to outdo himself, I thought surely Amish Paradise would be his pinnacle, he turned around and hit me with Word Crimes.Report
I’ve always had a soft spot for Weird Al, even going back to the days of “My Bologna.” I remember when it was deeply uncool to like his music. I remember the people who were saying he’d be a flash in the pan….and he’s outlasted some of the bands he parodied. I wonder if the intentionally self-deprecating tour titles he chooses are partly key to his longevity: he doesn’t take himself too seriously and genuinely enjoys what he’s doing.
The other secret is it takes REAL SMARTS to be able to parody as well, and as consistently, as he has. Man’s brilliant.Report
He definitely has a level of wit beyond what he’s typically credited. Aside from the parody songs I can’t help but die laughing every time I come across the artwork for ‘Mandatory Fun.’Report
I recall reading a piece by one of his fans who spent time backstage at some of the shows and interviewed Al at home. At Al’s house the writer saw some of his notebooks, that included things like a really great parody line for a song, followed by two or three pages of crossed out attempts at the rhyming line to set it up. His backstage observation was that it’s easy for someone to dismiss the material as lightweight and not worth the effort, but Al and the musicians work their butts off to get every note right.
Apparently an enormous amount of work from beginning to end. That’s a big step towards long-term success.Report
And even though he doesn’t ‘need’ it, legally, he always tries to get the original artists permission before releasing a parody.Report
Wasn’t Coolio unhappy about Amish Paradise?Report
IIRC, some years later Coolio said the parody was funny, that he had been wrong, it was stupid of him to fuss about it, and he wished someone had stopped him. In the meantime, once Yankovic found out that the management company that controlled the rights had approved it but not Coolio, he sent Coolio the royalties that would have been owed for a straight-up cover.Report
Weird Al is a treasure. His fans adore him and even people who aren’t fans can’t really find anything bad about him. The industry, of course, loves him.Report
His polka compilations of rock songs are where I’ve heard a number of songs for the first time.
Like, the first time I heard “Hey Joe”? Wasn’t Jimi Hendrix. It was Weird Al.
I will be forever grateful.Report
I put Weird Al in the same category as Allan Sherman until I saw the video for The Saga Begins. The man’s a genius.Report
Dare to be Stupid was my entry into his brilliance.Report
I guess my first real listen was some kid playing the “In 3-D” cassette at Boy Scout camp. ‘Nature Trail to Hell’ made me laugh unroariously and I barely realized what an accomplished piece of music it is. He’s quite a skilled performer and composer with a very talented band. He’s also very deeply silly.Report
Everyone’s had enough time for Al. When our children were small, one of the sing-along songs on the long drive to grandmas (across the Great Plains in a single day, which is its own sort of miracle) was Tom Chapin’s “Don’t Make Me,” set to the theme from Swan Lake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plTGVM-wN38
From time to time on long solo drives, I worked (mentally) on songs for a parody stage musical, with the lead a first-level software development manager. I borrowed the Chapin idea for a longer “Don’t Make Me Go to Work Today” opening. Also borrowed from Willy Nelson with “Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Coders.”Report
🎶 You code sixteen apps, and what do you get? 🎶Report
I like it. I was mostly working on it long ago, in the days before apps. Youngest child is 35 now…
A bunch of coders, working in open work space, moving their tablets and laptops from one available work surface to another.Report